hi, i am 43, 5foot 10 and 74kgs. I am on thyroxine (200mcg), but about 5 weeks ago I started taking a extra 100mcgs, as I was feeling very tired etc. I know I should have gone to my GP, but it is difficult for me to get there. In the last week or so I have noticed my urine being very concentrated and smelly. I drink probably about 4 glasses of water a day, nothing else in my diet has changed. Can you tell me if the thyroxine could be causing the problem?

Hello,Thanks for posting your query.Altering your dose of thyroxine without consulting your physician and checking your hormonal levels is not advisable. Regarding the smelly urine, it is not likely to be related to the hormonal levels. The decreased intake of water seems to be the main cause. You need to increase your daily water intake to at least 10 glasses per day. Increase in thyroxine might have increased your insensible water loss from the body thus further increasing your fluid requirements.Awful smelling urine without any other associated symptoms like burning, frequency of micturition, fever, etc may be harmless finding.

There are few possible causes for smelly urine, and have to be ruled out. A simple test on the urine can quickly identify / rule out these conditions.1. Infection is the commonest cause.2. There are also conditions that affect the salts and other chemicals produced by the body, which when appearing in urine might make it offensive.3. Few people develop this problem without an obvious cause4. In a few instances this problem can sometimes be associated with the use of certain vitamin and supplements or from imbalances in your diet.

I suggest the following measures:a. The first step is to get a couple of urine samples analysed. Infections and chemical disturbances can be picked up easily by the urine test.b. I'll just ask you to consider something else – diet, drugs and supplements. - If you are taking anything of that type, try stopping it and see if the problem goes away.

Hope this answers your query. I will be glad to answer the follow up queries that you have.Wishing you good health.Regards.